Art appreciation tours for people with Alzheimer's and dementia in Kilkenny gallery

Kilkenny's Butler Gallery will be running a dementia friendly event next week on Tuesday September 20, 2022. The Azure tours are free dementia-inclusive facilitated events for older people and their families and supporters.

The Azure tours were created as part of Museums Art and Alzheimer's, a European project which took place between 2015-2017, aiming to facilitate access to museums and the arts for people with dementia, their families and professional carers. The project increased cross-sector collaboration between cultural, social care and healthcare sectors at a local and European level. The ultimate aim was to contribute to building a dementia-friendly society.

Butler Gallery worked with five partner organisations from Italy, Germany and Lithuania to achieve two project outputs:

A training course aimed at museum educators and geriatric activity coordinators who want to create or implement museum programs for people living with dementia and their carers, with special focus on developing communication tools.

A skills course aimed at family and professional carers. The goal is to develop an “educational” relationship through art; exploring effective communication and nonverbal understanding, within the care relationship.

Ideas explored by the project include: What role do artists, museums and galleries play in a dementia-friendly society? What is the value of arts programming for people living with dementia and their families and carers? How can innovative, creative thinkers make a positive impact on the lives of people living with dementia and their families and carers?

Butler Gallery is a founding member of the Azure Network, alongside Age and Opportunity, the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. This collaborative partnership has been active in exploring the potential for greater participation of people with dementia in cultural settings in Ireland since 2012.

During the Azure tour, visitors will explore artworks from the Butler Gallery Collections and Exhibitions with a facilitator trained in Alzheimer's and dementia inclusive art programmes.

The group session is limited to 8 people and two Butler Gallery facilitators. Booking in advance is necessary at https://www.butlergallery.ie/whats-on/azure-programme

Tea and coffee are served after the tour.

Dates and Time:
10.30am-12pm on Tuesday, September 20, 2022. 

10.30am-12pm on Tuesday,  November 22, 2022.